China has established diplomatic ties with the tiny Pacific island of Nauru, just hours after Nauru announced that it would sever ties with Taiwan.

A joint communique carried by the Chinese news agency, Xinhua, said that Nauru accepts that the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory.

China has always maintained that it will only establish diplomatic ties with countries that cut ties with Taiwan, which split from the People's Republic in 1949.

Nauru's ties with Beijing leave Taiwan with diplomatic relations with only 27 countries. There has been no reaction from Taiwan.